Krejcir business ignored - claim

Crime & Courts / 20 August 2014, 11:31am

BRENDAN ROANE

Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir is seen at the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in Palm Ridge, Monday, 21 July 2014. Krejcir, Desai Luphondo, Warrant Officers Samuel "Saddam" Maropeng and George Nthoroane, Jan Lefu Mofokeng and Siboniso Miya face charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, and dealing in drugs. The case was postponed to Tuesday because Maropeng was not in court. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Johannesburg - Money Point, the controversial Bedfordview pawnshop thought to be under the control of Radovan Krejcir, was not investigated by police even though a kidnap victim was allegedly tortured by him on the premises.

This claim was made on Tuesday by Krejcir’s legal representative, advocate Annelene van den Heever, as she argued that the defence should be allowed to cross-examine the investigating officer, Captain Freddy Ramuhala.

Ramuhala arrested Krejcir in November on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and drug dealing relating to an incident in June last year.

Ramuhala was supposed to take the stand on Tuesday to testify in a trial-within-a-trial that will ultimately decide the admissibility of a confession made by Krejcir’s co-accused, Desai Luphondo.

However, Van den Heever and the two other defence counsels applied on Tuesday to be able to cross-examine Ramuhala about issues not directly related to the trial-within-a-trial.

She told the court they wanted to know why “no investigation whatsoever” was conducted at Money Point if this is where the alleged assault took place.

Money Point, which has been the hotspot for other alleged criminal activity in the past, was allegedly under the control of Krejcir when a bomb exploded there in November last year, killing three people.

The SA Revenue Service submitted an affidavit during Krejcir’s bail application in December in which it said he effectively owned the business, despite it not being registered in his name. He denied this claim.

According to an official statement by police in July last year, Money Point was allegedly robbed of jewellery worth R3 million.

Just three weeks later, Krejcir was allegedly the target of a bizarre assassination attempt at the shop when a remote-controlled gun fired several shots at him from a nearby parked car.

The alleged victim in Krejcir’s current trial, Bhekithemba Lukhele, was allegedly kidnapped after his brother disappeared with drugs belonging to Krejcir in June 2013.